“It is good old SHTF advice- do not be alone. Being with someone means that you can have support, someone who can recheck your decisions (or vice versa), someone who can take lead when you are “down“ or simply someone who can be awake while you are taking short sleep.”

The positive effects of war on mental health has long been documented. How is it that people feel less depressed, less crazy, less violent and less suicidal when something as horrible and life threatening is happening around them? Because war and natural disasters force people to unite together, to help One-Another, and to act as a community. People feel better psychologically if they have more involvement with their community.

We've been contemplating the cost of education. And since we like to begin close to home we wondered what the numbers would have been had we as well as our son not done it the Frugal Prosumer way. In reflecting on our 50 years of working in educational institutes around the world, starting an alternative school, and John obtaining a masters degree in education and being a consultant, we thought about how important it is to understand the most efficient ways to learn.

We all want to be able to survive crises that inevitably come our way. People do this in many different ways. Some stick their heads in the sand, buy Insurance, believe in InShaAllah or "if God wills", join a religious group, fill a big house with lots of stuff, save as much money as they can, dedicate their whole life to a job or business, gain wilderness or military survival skills, etc. Others become “preppers” stocking up on supplies and knowledge preparing to survive the coming apocalypse, financial meltdown, EMP, zombie apocalypse. etc. Often being well prepared in one area but entirely neglecting others.

Most crises require planning in multiple if not all of the 7 Pillars of the Frugal Prosumer. Spending most of ones effort in only one or two of these areas can be disasterous if that’s not the area a crisis hits you.

Social capital isn’t a new idea, although the term itself is relatively recent. In the past we’ve called it other things: goodwill, fellowship, community. The concept existed in ancient cultures as “the golden rule”, or the Biblical admonition to do unto others as you’d have them do unto you (practicing Allelon).

Social capital refers to the connections among individuals — social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them.

A collaspe of society is not a failure of military might or food. It's a failure of practicing one another with more than just your immediate small group. (If we do not at least have a small group of one another we cannot survive). As a society tumbles slowly downward, it will encounter defeat in battle, collapse of infrastructure, food shortages, etc. But these are symptoms, not causes. The cause is not following the principle of one another.

Happy people do not need more stuff; wealthy people are wealthy because they realize they already have enough; and early retirees achieved their goals by saving first and spending only a fraction of their income.

Too often when people have money problems, they don't do anything about them until the problems are so great they can’t be avoided. Like most problems, the longer they are avoided, the harder they are to solve. A roaring house fire takes tremendous resources to put out. Even when put out, the owner is left with a lot of damage. The spark that started the fire could have been extinguished easily if the situation had been handled earlier

The Frugal Prosumer represents a philosophy of living, which values financial soundness as a component of a fulfilled life and deliberate living. It is a philosophy of life that, over the centuries, many have discovered can increase their financial well being. This Frugal Prosumer Philosophy of Money Management is for those interested in mastering their financial life. We believe one’s financial state is inseparable from other aspects of life.

A wise insurance plan is not just about buying commercial insurance. It is about having the security that comes from having the resources, knowledge, and experience that enable us to comfortably maintain our “body” at 98.6 no matter what happens.